Zora Jaurová is a film producer, cultural and creative industries policy expert, and politician. She studied theatrical dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. She is the President of the Slovak Creative Industry Forum and member of Ateliers du Cinéma Européen. She is a partner in the Mphilms production company, which was founded in 2010.
FNE: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work over the past six months?
Zora Jaurová: We were lucky to finish a major shooting work on our big project Power by the end of February, so during the lockdown we had time to do the editing and prepare postproduction. However, the cinema release of our feature documentary Earthly Paradise was postponed from March to October and one week after it entered cinemas, they were closed again. The most difficult part of these days is planning, since the situation changes every day.
FNE: Emerging Producers provides a networking platform for young documentary producers. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has had the effect of cutting off international collaboration, has this changed your approach to networking with colleagues in other countries?
Zora Jaurová: It is very difficult to develop new projects and collaborations in these days. The very fact we cannot meet in person even during the Emerging Producers session tells it all. There are some exceptions for filmmakers moving around, so we have been able to do some work with our colleagues from the Czech Republic and Hungary. But apparently, this situation is going to last months and even years, so it will definitely have an effect on European coproductions in the coming years.
FNE: Do you expect the landscape of documentary filmmaking to change because of COVID-19?
Zora Jaurová: Exceptional circumstances of a global nature like this will definitely influence not only the content and topics of documentary filmmaking, but also the way films will be realised. I expect more introspective cinematography, looking for the very basal issues of human existence. But also new formal approaches, using digital platforms and technologies.
FNE: Are you working on any projects that are directly related to this crisis? Why or why not?
Zora Jaurová: The idea of the political thriller Power we are just finishing was conceived more than five years ago and the final version of the script was ready long before the Covid-19 pandemic started. But somehow, the slightly dystopian background of the film, which deals with moral dilemmas of people with and without power in the world stricken by drought, has got an entirely new level of meaning in the pandemic situation.
Slovakia 2.0 (2014), omnibus, Producer
Ex-Prime Ministers (2018), documentary TV series, Producer
Earthly Paradise (2019), feature documentary, Producer
Power (2021), feature, Producer
The 24th Ji.hlava IDFF will take place online this year from 27 October - 8 November 2020.
